"If anyone needs worry that The Society shall come for them, my dearest wife, it is not me but you. For they say The Society only comes for those who love less than they do, and as all here know you are a heartless witch."

— Seigneur Napolin de Rubis le Sangun

  The Society, or as it is more commonly known The Loveless Society, is a mysterious organization around which a great many stories circulate. It is uncertain what within these stories are real and what is fabrication and rumor. In fact the organization itself is not known, for certain, to actually exist. There are many who believe it to be nothing more than a story meant to frighten the nobility into behaving; perhaps a story which some enterprising souls have used to cover up their revenge, but a story nonetheless. The Society, it is claimed, is a group of men and women who’s sole purpose to enact bloody retribution upon the nobility when they fail to uphold their duty to care for and protect the commoners who work for them. Those of the nobles who are negligent and disdainful of the commoners, those who are actively hostile and harmful to them. Those who exploit and abuse the common people. These are the nobility who, it is claimed, have something to fear from The Society.   The origin of the stories about The Society is lost to the time of upheaval surrounding the reign of King Ferdinad de Diamant le Sangun and the fall from grace of The Virtuous, a group of Knights charged with treason. As most of the stories go, however, The Society came to be when the commoners were treated poorly across the board and so a number of them banded together and using skills they learned from hard lives, sought retribution on the worst offenders of the nobility. Lords and Ladies both died at the hands of these commoners, their hearts taken, carved from their chests and burned in sacrifice and as offering to X’isdia, Goddess of Vengeance. X’isdia, well pleased with their offerings and their desires, blessed them and their mission.   However not all of the stories told claim this as the origin. Several other stories claim that the Fey, as an act of revenge against the nobles who rebelled against them, poisoned the minds of the commoners. From this foul whispering of the Fey grew the seeds of resentment which bloomed into a burning desire to destroy the nobility. To harvest these blooms came a Fey who took the commoners under his, or her, guidance and taught them how to sneak and kill, have to baffle and beguile, to hide and disguise. The taking of hearts is payment for the gifts, brought to this Fey who, to this day, lives and hides out among the people of Merjoux. The remaining few stories get even more strange and unusual in their stories as to how they came to be. What is known for certain is there from time to time a noble will come along who displays cruelty and willful disdain for the lives of the commoners they rule over. This behavior is only tolerated for so long before someone takes action against it. Sometimes there is a warning for the noble in question to mend their ways. Sometimes there is no warning at all and the noble is found dead, their heart removed, and no witnesses to the crime.   The truth of The Society may never be known, but in one fashion or another it exists, and it acts as a deterrent within the spheres of noble influence. Perhaps that is enough to make Merjoux a better kingdom than it might otherwise be.